07 Jan COVERING A BRIDE’S HAIR
Over the past half
century, the Orth-
odox community has
grown tremendously
in its practice of
married women
covering their hair. At
what point must a bride start covering
her hair?
Historically, Jewish marriage has
consisted of two stages — kiddushin
(or erusin) and nissu’in. The first stage
makes the couple exclusive, they are
betrothed and need a get in order to
divorce but they may not live together. A
woman in that state is called an arusah.
Up to twelve months later, they would
enter the second stage of nissu’in, which
is full marriage. A woman in that state,
namely a fully married woman, is called
a nessu’ah. Generally speaking, nissu’in
requires yichud, staying together alone
in a room. Nowadays, we do both stages
together. The wedding begins with
kiddushin under a chupah, the husband
giving the wife a ring, and continues with
yichud. Ashkenazim go to a yichud room
straight after the chupah. Sephardim
do not have a yichud room and instead
go home after the wedding where the
couple is alone, accomplishing yichud
in that way. This difference between
Ashkenazim and Sephardim gains
significance in our discussion.
I. Arusah
Rav Yitzchak Halevi Segal (brother of
the Taz; 17th cen., Poland) discusses this
question at length and concludes that a
bride must cover her hair after kiddushin
(Responsa Mahari Halevi, no. 9). He
quotes the Mishnah (Kesubos 15b)
that they used to take an arusah to her
wedding with her hair uncovered. Rashi
(ad loc.) explains that she would uncover
her hair for the special procession to the
wedding. This implies that normally an
arusah must cover her hair but she is
allowed to uncover it for the procession
to her wedding.
Rav Yair Chaim Bacharach (17th cen.,
Germany) says that even if in the times
of the Talmud an arusah did not have
to cover her hair, nowadays that we do
erusin and nissu’in together, even an
arusah must cover her hair (Chavos
Ya’ir, no. 196). According to this view,
a bride must cover her hair under the
chupah, when she becomes an arusah.
II. Nessu’ah
Rav Chizkiyah Medini (19th cen.,
Ukraine) quotes Shitah Mekubetzes
(ad loc.) which explains that an arusah
never had to cover her hair. It was not
specifically the procession but all the
time that an arusah did not cover her
hair. Rather, the Mishnah teaches us that
an arusah need not cover her hair but a
nessu’ah must (Sedei Chemed, Asifas
Dinim, dalet, no. 1). Rav Chaim David
Halevi (20th cen., Israel) explains that
since a woman becomes a nessu’ah after
yichud, an Ashkenazic bride must cover
her hair when leaving the yichud room.
A Sephardic bride does not have yichud
until she goes home after the wedding
and therefore does not need to cover her
hair until she first leaves home, usually
in the morning (Aseh Lecha Rav, vol.
4, no. 55). Indeed, some Ashkenazim
engage a special woman to help a bride
put on her wig and ensure her outfit and
make-up are good after the yichud and
before pictures and dancing.
III. Semi-Covering
Rav Ovadiah Yosef (21st cen., Israel)
seems to agree that a nessu’ah must
cover her hair. For a Sephardic woman,
this means she must cover her hair
only after she goes home after the
wedding (Yabi’a Omer, vol. 6, Orach
Chaim, no. 13, sec. 4). However,
his son, Rav Yitzchak Yosef (cont.,
Israel), quotes a responsum of the
father in a Torah journal in which
Rav Ovadiah takes a middle position.
Normally, Rav Ovadiah Yosef
strongly opposes women covering
their hair with a wig. He believes that
only a hat, scarf or the like suffices
but a wig is too similar to a woman’s
hair to serve as a hair covering.
However, for a bride at her own
wedding, Rav Ovadiah allows a wig.
She should borrow the wig rather
than buy it, because once she owns a
wig she might wear it even after the
wedding. Therefore, Rav Yitzchak
Yosef quotes his father as saying that
a woman should wear a wig from the
beginning of the wedding and only
starting in the morning cover her
hair with a hat or scarf (Yalkut Yosef,
Otzar Dinim Le-Ishah U-Le-Vas, ch.
37, par. 13).
IV. Be’ulah
Rav Ya’akov Reischer (18th cen.,
Germany) points out that the Mishnah
is discussing women whose kesubah
is 200 maneh. A woman who has been
with a man, whether within marriage
or not, receives a kesubah of 100
maneh. If witnesses testify that she went
to her nissu’in with uncovered hair then
that proves she receives a higher kesubah.
It must be, Rav Reischer argues, that the
obligation of a woman to cover her hair
does not depend on her marital status but
on her chastity. If she has been with a man
(be’ulah), she must cover her hair. If not
(besulah), she need not cover hair.
As we mentioned above, Shitah
Mekubetzes (ad loc.) explains that an
arusah never had to cover her hair. Rav
Reischer further explains that this is not
because she is an arusah but because she
is a besulah. A woman’s requirement to
cover her hair is not dependent on her
marital status but on whether she is a
besulah or be’ulah. Additionally, the Rosh
seems to say that a bride does not cover
her hair on the first day of her marriage
(Kesubos 2:3). This can be understood as
meaning that she does not have to cover
her hair immediately after she is married,
even if the wedding is in the afternoon,
but only after the wedding night, when
she becomes a be’ulah. According to this
view, a bride only needs to cover hair
beginning the morning after her wedding.
Rav Tuviah Goldstein reports that Rav
Moshe Feinstein (20th cen., US) holds
that way (Responsa Emek Halachah, vol.
3, no. 56).
Rav Chaim David Halevi (loc. cit.)
suggests that even according to the view
that a nessu’ah must cover her hair, even
Ashkenazim can wait until the morning.
He argues that really yichud means that
a couple goes home together. That only
happens after the wedding.
V. Summary
We see that practices differ about when
a bride must begin covering her hair.
Some authorities believe that a bride
must cover her hair under the chupah.
Mishnah Berurah (75:11) adopts this
view, as do many after him. Effectively,
this means she must wear a wig at the
beginning of the wedding. Rav Ovadiah
Yosef believes that a woman must cover
her hair under the chupah but a wig,
which he considers a lesser covering,
suffices. Other authorities believe that
an Ashkenazic bride must cover her
hair after leaving the yichud room. And
others believe that she must cover her
hair only beginning the morning after
the wedding.